America is at war and most every band is just thumping along in some blind-eyed stupor, poutin’ out some goth-disco love-to-love-ya-baby slime, inoculating us, massaging with entertainment. Erase Errata’s new album, their third, Nightlife, is a look at American life with the fluorescents on.

Singer/guitarist Jenny Hoysten, like Nelson Algren, serves up narratives that examine realities no one wants to look at, war and poverty. “I think the US can be a wonderful place and I generally stay positive,” Hoysten explains, “but it’s overwhelming to think of all the things going on under our noses and our silent concession. My lyrics are about the government, political disillusionment, and the things that keep us from thinking about what is really going on--being distracted by night life, consumerism and celebrity watching.” The album’s pithy title track, it’s lone line a thesis: “Night life, forget about real life.”

While some songs splay their polemic plainly (“Tax Dollar”, “Another Genius Idea From Our Government,”), others are more obscure; “Beacon” is about churches that take pro-war stances, and some are more personal: “Take You,” is a gender-queered love song that takes place in a cave (“It’s a shout out to people like me,” says Hoysten), “Giant Hans” is a surreal allegory about cloud warfare; though all of the songs are suffused with humor, fury and hope.

Erase Errata’s lyrical content is not all that is different this time around; after whirlwind tours supporting Sonic Youth and The Ex, followed the departure of guitarist Sara Jaffe for grad school in 2004, the band spent almost two years reconfiguring the band’s sound and line up. All their changes and efforts are well evidenced on Nightlife’s twelve tracks of polished chaos. Since their inception six years ago, the band has always been hailed as a visceral fury; now, the band’s sound is as powerful and unhinged as ever, though now much more cogent and wielding firm control—on all fronts.

It’s standard artist bio hyperbole to insist that a band defies convention, is pure, inspiring and original-- fortunately, for Erase Errata, it’s the truth.

--- Video for "Tax Dollar" ---

What the critics have to say about Nightlife...

“Stands as a monument to punk rock action at its most intelligent..” (The Wire)

“EE utterly destroy the music that inspired them as surely as they reinvent it from top to bottom.” (Rolling Stone)

“They clearly prize improvisation and spontaneity; the songs always sound like they were written this morning, refined over lunch, and recorded in time for happy hour.” (Spin)